Culture Shock

Form and Function

SOFA WEST tempts with eye candy

Not only is it a squishy place to watch TV from, not to mention a place for your too-drunk friends to crash, it’s also a huge art and design festival in Santa Fe. The third annual SOFA (Sculpture Objects and Functional Art Fair) WEST runs Thursday through Sunday, Aug. 4 through 7. Exhibitors include galleries and artists from all over the states and as far away as Argentina. You can buy and/or ogle artwork, furniture, jewelry and even things that are fascinating but hard to identify.

SOFA WEST also offers a full schedule of lectures on a range of topics like the history, art and connoisseurship of Japanese woodblock prints.

SOFA WEST also offers a full schedule of lectures on a range of topics like the history, art and connoisseurship of Japanese woodblock prints from the Edo period (1603 to 1867). Where else could you learn about that? Other talks include how to identify authentic pieces, given by an expert in ancient art, and a discussion about what constitutes outsider art.

“Teasel, Standing”

Nuala O'Donovan

The highlighted collection at the fair is the Intuit Show of Folk and Outsider Art. This partnership, between SOFA and Chicago’s nonprofit Intuit: The Center for Intuitive and Outsider Art, will feature galleries and dealers who represent self-taught, outsider and intuitive artists. It’ll be worth going just to see work from names you can’t normally catch in a museum or regular gallery. SOFA WEST takes place at the Santa Fe Convention Center. For a full schedule of lectures, list of galleries and other helpful info, visit sofaexpo.com